Petraeus: Watch how Pompeo tackles lagging State Department appointments

Former CIA Director David Petraeus hopes President Trump’s next pick for aecretary of State, Mike Pompeo, will quickly fill out top State Department positions that have yet to be appointed more than a year into the Trump administration.

“What I would look for there, in particular, would be how quickly can they get qualified individuals nominated and confirmed because a State Department without confirmed assistant secretaries is a State Department that doesn’t have one of its most important elements,” Petraeus said Thursday evening at a Veterans in Global Leadership event in Washington, D.C.

{mosads}Petraeus pointed to several vacant spots, including an ambassadorship for South Korea and a designated North Korean expert, noting that the department lacks clout in negotiations without confirmed individuals in such positions.

“I think the question that a lot of people have is why it has taken so long to get confirmed assistant secretaries of State … I would hope that we would see quick results on that front in particular,” he said.

In addition, Petraeus said he will be watching how Pompeo deals with the mass exodus of seasoned foreign service officials under Rex Tillerson, who was ousted from the top spot at the State Department by Trump earlier this month.

“It’s hard to understand what is the dynamic here, what was that all about,” Petraeus said of the walkouts at the department. Democrats have expressed concern over the increased vacancies at the agency.

“My hope would certainly be that Mike Pompeo, recognizing the issues that exist, will be able to work effectively with the White House and with a president with whom he’s developed, obviously, a very strong relationship and mutual respect.”

Pompeo, who previously ran the CIA, was described by the retired Army general as a strong director of the agency.

Petraeus would not comment on Tillerson’s firing, noting that “I’m not on the inside, I don’t know what the dynamics were,” but did allow that there was tension between Trump and the former Exxon Mobil Corp. chief executive.

“Obviously there was some friction between the secretary of State and the president; some days that would be putting it mildly,” Petraeus said.

“I thought substantively that he developed quite quickly and impressively,” he added.

Trump formally sent Pompeo’s nomination for secretary of State to the Senate on Tuesday.